Last night in Shanghai

Guilin was last place on our Chinese agenda. From there, we took a plane back to Shanghai. As we were going to Shanghai only for one night and the next morning we had a plane back to Europe, we booked a hotel in the airport. It was much more convenient than going only for one night to the center of Shanghai.

Upon arrival we left our luggage in the hotel and took a Maglev train. This high speed magnetic levitation train made our journey to the city center (located 70km away from the airport) much faster. At some point we changed into metro and we went to the Bund neighborhood. And from there we wanted to visit the last attraction of our Chinese trip - the Shanghai Tower.

We saw it already from a distance during our previous stay in Shanghai - difficult not to see it as with its 632 meters, it's the second highest building in the world - just after the Burj Khalifa. It has the world's highest observation deck and the world second fastest elevator.

 

When we arrived to the ticket office it was pretty late and there were no queues whatsoever. We quickly bought our tickets (which costed 180 yuan - around 23 euros) and headed to the 118th floor. On that floor, as well as on the 119th there was the observation deck for tourists.

 
The elevator brought us to the 118th floor in less than a minute! Incredibly fast!

 

 

The view from the tower was fantastic - Shanghai was beautifully illuminated at that time
 

Magical landscapes of Karts Mountains

My trip to Guilin was a bit adventurous after I decided spontaneously to come back to Chengdu to look for my painting. I did not manage to join Marijn and Nina on the same day and had to spend a night over in Chengdu and take the first train at 6:30 in the morning. Unfortunately all the seating places were sold out and I had no choice but to buy a standing place. Well, 7 hours of standing wasn't very exciting, but I just wanted to get as soon as possible to my family. The trip was doable and I made a new Chinese friend :)

I arrived to Guilin around 13h and actually I did not loose that much time - Marijn and Nina had a late breakfast and then were relaxing in the hotel. And after I left my small luggage and THE painting, we went for a sightseeing of surroundings.

Guilin's area is one of the biggest highlights of China because of its incredible scenery of karst mountains. It attracts millions of tourists who want to see this beautiful landscape. It is so famous that it was even featured on the 20 yen note.

Already in the Guilin center I could spot these famous shapes, but we left them for later. For a moment we wanted to focus on other Guilin's attractions - Fir Lake and the Sun and Moon Pagodas located on it. They are also known as Gold and Silver Pagodas because of their colors at night. The Sun Pagoda is the world’s highest bronze pagoda and the world’s highest pagoda above water.

 

 

We walked around and admired the beautiful scenery and no people!! Seriously, for the first time in China we finally were not surrounded by crowds! Also, finally it was a bit cooler and colder than 40 degrees in the shadow.

The closer to the sunset, the more people were coming to the lake. Also we awaited till the dawn to see the beautiful illumination of the pagodas.

On the next day we went one more time for a walk around the city and then we took a didi to Yangshuo. The views on the way were really spectacular! Unfortunately when we arrived it started to rain very badly, so we spent all afternoon in the hotel. At least we had nice views... We could leave only in the evening - we found some restaurant nearby and quickly came back to the hotel.

On the next day we took a didi in order to get to the Xianggong mountain - a famous viewpoint over the Li River and the mountains. We had to pay 60 yuan for didi and the driver told us he would wait for us for another 100 yuan. We concluded it was a good deal, as in this middle of nowhere we would have troubles to find a transport anyway. We bought our entrance tickets for 60 yuan and started to climb to the viewpoint. Although this area is a famous touristic spot, the place was really quiet and nearly empty - quite a change compared to our previous experiences in China. The views over Yanghshuo and Li River were totally magical - it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

We spent the afternoon and the evening on wandering in Yangshuo. As on the previous day we had a big problem with finding a suitable restaurant (no English menu or everywhere red meet) for tonight we chose a vegetarian restaurant Lotus.

Incredible how such a peaceful city by day, can change so radically in the evening. Hundreds of people on the streets and loud music all around - including Polish disco-polo!!!

On the next day, we also ordered didi and drove to the nearby Xingping - the famous place depicted on the 20 yuan note. We heard that one of its biggest attractions was a cruise with a boat, so we stood for more than half an hour in a huge queue trying to get tickets. It was one of the craziest cruises I've ever did. First of all zero magic. We were stuck in a boats' traffic - 20 boats moving slowly one by one. It was so commercial, we were being pushed to pay for everything - from snacks to the photos. But as a matter of fact it didn't bother us much. We were in the middle of world's one of the most outstanding sceneries, we were just admiring this incredible landscape.

The story of the Chinese painting plus Chengdu at night

I often bring souvenirs from my travels, but I always look for high quality things and not touristic crap. Thus when our guide in Xian proposed us to visit the gallery adjaced to the... I knew she had to have some sort of a deal with them. However since I'm always looking for nice things, which I could bring home, I decided to give it a try. And indeed, I liked several items, but one painting has particularly drew my attention. It represented a Chinese lady and its background was in my favorite colour - purple. It was elegant and classy, it was love from the first sight and I very much wanted to have it. The price was not low, but after hard negotiations I managed to decrease it by half. The painting was packed in some sort long carton box - unfortunately too long to put it to the suitcase, so we were holding it on our pram.

It made safely with us to Chengdu. And then it was ready to travel with us to Guilin. When we arrived to the train station, we still had to pick up our tickets. Although we were there one hour prior to the departure of the train, everything was taking so long that in the end we barely made it to the train. We had to run through the security check and then we had to run along the 24 platforms (yes - this was a very big and very long train station). We safely made it to the train, which departed 2 minutes after we got it. Then I noticed that THE painting was missing. "Where is the painting???" - I started to ask Marijn, but I already knew I had to loose it somewhere while running... I started to cry - I really liked it plus it wasn't cheap... And then I decided that... I would come back to Chengdu to look for it! Marijn wasn't convinced, in fact he was not very enthousiastic, but he never blocks me to do anything... And I concluded that I would always regret if I didn't try to find it. So I decided to leave at the next train station and come back to Chengdu and then fly to Guilin on the same evening.

The next station was after 1h and 200km from Chengdu and it was a total s**thole. There was literally nothing there, super small train station and not even an ATM. In the meantime - while still on the previous train - we checked that I should have the next train shortly. I went to the ticket counter to buy a ticket, but... it was sold out!!! Not even standing places. I was begging the seller to get me a place, but it was not possible. Next train was in 4h. I shortly realised how stupid this idea to come back to Chengdu was. I would then come back there after 6h and then what? Where I would even look for it? How could I expect it would be still there... Now I was in this sh*thole with even no money. I decided then make it somehow to the city center and find an atm. It wasn't easy (as of course nobody spoke English), but eventually one motor-driver drove me to the bank, where one of its employees spoke English, helped me to withdraw money and instructed how much I was supposed to pay to the driver :) 

After 4h of waiting my train finally arrived. After another hour I came back to the Chengdu Train Station, which I left 6h earlier... I didn't even know where to look for this painting, but I decided to come back to the security check - I thought that maybe I left it there while screening my luggage. One security lady spoke some English and more or less understood my story. All the stuff was surrounding all four security checkpoints and looking for my painting, but it was not there. Then a few of them took their mobile phones or walkie-talkie and started to call somewhere. After a while, one of them showed me a video from this morning (I told them at what exactly hour I had to loose it) showing me going through the security check. Wow! What a control! But no, I couldn't see the painting on that video. I told them that maybe the painting is somewhere outside, as if it's not in the security check, maybe I lost it while running from the ticket counter to the entrance. In response I heard: "please wait, we are trying to help you". And then again a few people took their mobile phones and walkie-talkie and started to call somewhere. The time was running out, some 20 minutes already passed and still nothing. I thought there are no chances of finding it. If it was there, they would have found it. Then, one lady came to me, showed me a sort of golf car and said to get with her on the car. I noticed we were moving the direction opposite from the entrance, I was trying to convince them to see it outside and then I heard again: "please wait, we are trying to solve your problem". We arrived then on another side of the station, we went outside, we headed to the police/security stand and... I received my painting! Yes, it was there waiting for me! I was so happy! Not only to get it back, but also to prove the point that it's always worth fighting and not giving up ;-)

In the meantime it got too late to take the evening plane, so I booked the earliest train to Guilin, which was arriving the same time as the morning plane, so I wanted to save some money. Unfortunately there were no more sitting places, but I really did not mind. I was just happy I had my painting back. Marijn booked me a hotel near the train station - Meicheng Hotel - Chengdu East Railway station - so I could get there easily in the morning.

For my last night I went to the city center and I got there by metro! Finally some adventure after predictable and easy Didi ;-)

 The Anshun Bridge was beautifully illuminated and I had my dinner in a Hong-Kong restaurant :) I was missing my family, but I was also happy that I had such an adventurous and especially positive afternoon! Never give up!

Chengdu or we are visiting pandas!

While planning this trip, I wanted to include in our agenda a little bit of everything - modern cities, ancient sites, nature and a bit of fauna. And the fauna that China is the most known of are of course pandas. I learned more about them in the Belgian zoo called Pairi Daiza. In fact, it is one of the very few places in the world - outside China - where pandas can be seen. China is the only owner of all the pandas worldwide.

And the Chinese capital of pandas is Sichuan province with its capital Chengdu, which was our next destination after Xian. So since pandas was our main reason to come to Chengdu, the next day we of course started the day with the visit at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. This place imitates the natural habitat of giant pandas, so they might have the best possible environment for rearing and breeding.

When we arrived in the late morning, the Panda Base was of course totally crowded. In addition, in the middle of the summer pandas were rather staying inside, as it was too hot for them to be outside. This meant that it was really difficult to see them as not only they were hidden, but it was also not easy to see something through dozens of people.

While continuing our visit in the Base, we noticed a huge queue - we did not know what it was for, but we stood there as well. After a very long awaiting, we found out that it was a queue to baby pandas! Some of them were put in the incubators. They were super cute!

 

 

At some point it started to rain - quite badly. It was actually great, as within half an hour 80% of people left the place and never returned. When the rain stopped, we could enjoy the pandas and come back to the baby pandas, as there was no queue ;-)

 
In the park there were not only giant pandas, but also red pandas :)

 

Everybody knows that pandas love bamboo, and so this place was full of bamboo. 

On the last day in Chengdu we went to see the Wenshu Monastery - probably the second biggest attraction of Chengdu. The Wenshu Yuan Monastery is the best preserved ancient monastery in Chegdu (built in the beginning of seventh century). In fact it is a huge complex of around 13 acres, comprising Buddha temples, shrines and gardens. It was a very pleasant and peaceful place with beautiful wooden and stone architecture.

 

We spent the evening wandering in the Jinli Street. This street was for centuries one of the busiest commercial areas in Chengdu. Nowadays it is still possible to admire traditional Chinese architecture and do some shopping